         (let [result (jdbc/query (second product) (str "select description from packages where name='" package "';"))
               desc   (:description (first result))]
             (if (not desc)
-                nil
+                ""  ; special value that will be handled later
                 (.replaceAll desc "\n" "<br />")))
         (catch Exception e
             (println-and-flush "read-description(): error accessing database '" (:subname (second product)) "'!")
-            nil)))
+            nil)))  ; special value that will be handled later
 
 (defn read-package-descriptions
     [products package]

          products-per-description      (get-products-per-description package-descriptions products-with-descriptions)
          user-name                     (get-user-name new-user-name old-user-name)]
          (cond (not ccs-description)                (generate-error-response package user-name "Can not read from the database file 'ccs_descriptions.db'!")
                :else                                (generate-normal-response products/products package package-descriptions ccs-description products-per-description products-without-descriptions new-description user-name))))

(defn perform-normal-processing

(defn get-products-without-descriptions
    [products package-descriptions]
   ; (sort
        (for [product products
            ; all descriptions that are equal to "" are not specified
            :when (empty? (get package-descriptions (first product)))]
            (first product)));)

(defn get-products-with-descriptions
    [products package-descriptions]
    (sort
        (for [product products
            ; all descriptions that are not equal to "" are specified
            :when (not (empty? (get package-descriptions (first product))))]
            (first product))))

(defn get-products-per-description
